“Whether it’s hurricanes in Florida and Texas or firestorms in California, the sad story is always the same. Between their incomprehensible policy language and their under-settlement ultimatums of twenty cents on the dollar, insurance companies will do everything they can to protect their astronomical profits,” predicts bad faith insurance lawyer, Ray Bourhis.

As 60 Minutes reported following Hurricane Sandy, insurance companies used phony expert reports and contractor estimates to cheat policyholders who had already lost everything.

And, according to Ray Bourhis, who has spent forty years suing insurers for denying and underpaying valid claims, this conduct is not restricted to hurricane and firestorm losses. Bourhis literally wrote the book (Insult to Injury1) on how Long Term Disability insurers have been cheating insureds for decades. “It’s the same thing for Medical insurers, Business insurers – the whole lot of them,” he says.

So, armed with his trusty laptop, Bourhis is striking back. This week he is launching InsuranceConsumers.com, a consumer friendly how-to book in a box ­­– or rather in an iPhone. “IC visitors are offered extensive resources including everything from inside-the-boardroom secrets about how the insurers operate, to detailed insights about every major line of insurance sold in the US.

Bourhis is not new to the idea of fighting for people. He taught high school in Appalachia, worked for Senator Robert Kennedy and served as a Vista Volunteer with Cesar Chavez’sCalifornia farm workers. As a Berkeley law student he founded Cal Advocates (now CalPIRG) and as an attorney in private practice he won record verdicts and settlements in insurance bad faith cases that were profiled on 60 Minutes, Dateline, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald and dozens of other newspapers nationwide. In 2001, he was appointed by the California Superior Court to oversee reforms in the California Department of Insurance.

“For generations,” Bourhis says. “Policyholders have been powerless and alone. Totally at the mercy of the insurers. And they typically turned to the worst possible source for help – the insurance companies themselves.”

“No more,” he declares. “IC is going to be there from now on. We are going to help insureds force the companies to keep their promises. Insureds are going to start understanding what they are buying and getting what they are paying for…”